TODAY IN HISTORY

■ 1751 Robert Clive of England, with 200 Europeans and 300 Indian troops, seizes the Indian city of Arcot from an Indian ruler allied to France.

■ 1814 Arthur Phillip, 75, the British naval officer who led white settlement in Australia, dies in Bath, England, after being made an admiral.

■ 1888 Jack the Ripper murders his first victim, prostitute Mary Anne “Polly’’ Nichols, in Bucks Row, London.

■ 1918 The Battle of Mont St Quentin starts in France. Australian forces led by General John Monash capture about 2600 prisoners.

■ 1925 A new federal police force is established when Parliament passes the Peace Officers Bill.

■ 1938 Naval air station HMAS Albatross is commissioned near Nowra.

■ 1942 Australian forces rebuff a fierce assault by Japanese troops at Milne Bay, New Guinea. The invaders suffer heavy casualties.

■ 1959 Neale Fraser, 25, defeats American Barry Mackay 8-6, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 to give the Aussies a 3-2 Davis Cup final win in New York.

1■ 976 Former Beatle George Harrison is found guilty of subconsciously plagiarising his 1971 hit, My Sweet Lord.

■ 1980 Pressured by Lech Walesa’s Solidarity group, the Polish government gives workers the right to strike and start unions independent of the Communist Party.

■ 1997 Princess Diana, 36, her millionaire companion Dodi al-Fayed, 42, and their drink-affected driver die in a car crash while fleeing paparazzi in Paris.

■ 2006 Norway police find Edvard Munch masterpieces Madonna and The Scream, two years after they were stolen from an Oslo museum.